Think of the coaches when deciding on September Muratti

Loose talk or not and whether the date is smack on right, or out by a month either way, it should be good news for those regular sporting travellers Raiders and Guernsey FC.

But what chance of a Muratti final? Can it, will it, still happen even if this season’s scheduled game falls into the the next campaign? I sense our GFA being a tad cool on the idea, not least because we still have the not insignificant matter of a semi-final to get out of the way.

But, more pertinently in these eyes, is how does poor Chris Tardif, the Guernsey manager, prepare a side to beat Jersey (sorry Alderney for my presumptuous nature) when, by then, GFC will be headlong into a new Isthmian League campaign?

Asking the Isthmian for a spare Saturday is one thing, but I cannot think that at such an important early stage of a new campaign Tony Vance would be too happy about his players sliding off for Muratti prep. work with their former goalkeeper.

Tricky.

It is also potentially bad news for those players who might get a Muratti chance even though GFC is not their cup of tea.

Other than some Rawlinson Cup ties and a few early-season Priaulx League clashes, there will be scant chance to impress, especially when you consider that the start date of the 2021-22 domestic season is to be pushed back in response to a significant over-extension to the current one.

That could be bad news for the likes of Marlon Jardim, Sam Murray and Nick Batiste, just three players who, if I was picking the team and had there not been this second lockdown, would have been chasing Island spots.

It is that messy preparation picture as opposed to GFA concerns over potentially undermining the competition’s heritage by staging two Murattis in one single season, that worries this touchline fan.

It just wouldn’t be fair on Vance or Tardif and, I guess, the same would apply to the men running Jersey Bulls and the Reds’ own Muratti side.